"He meant an awful lot to all of the officials. He brought us under his wing," said John Soffey, a prominent football official from Albany who worked major college games from 1981-1996 and later served as the Big East Conference coordinator of football officials.

The first two inductees from the Capital District Football Officials Association into the Capital Region Football Hall of Fame in 2010 were Doran and long-time friend Dom Denio, who died in June at the age of 92.

"Will and Dom taught so many of us how to officiate, how to handle coaches and how to handle players. They were unparalleled as football officials," Soffey said. "I never worked with better officials than Willard and Dom."

If there was a huge Section II football contest, chances are Doran and Denio worked the game.

Doran starred on the football, basketball and baseball teams at La Salle. He went on to enjoy great success playing basketball at Manhattan College, where he served as captain during the 1953-54 season.

He began his career as a teacher in the Lansingburgh School District, served as principal at Knickerbacker Junior High for 13 years, worked 14 years at Hudson Valley Community College as the director of student development and spent 16 years as a Rensselaer County Legislator.

In addition to his football officiating, Doran also was a basketball referee.

"I have nothing but the highest regard for Willard," Soffey said. "I visited him in the hospital three times over the past few weeks. He was still the same even-keeled guy. There was never any 'Woe is me' coming from him."